47 Syns for Love
by wayouttamyleague
Summary: What nonsense infests the precinct with the very thought of Valentine's Day? Crack fic calisthenics. WOML, Caskett & Bromance fun with contributors OnkelJo, Retired1984, & Geekmom.
1. Chapter 1

**_I don't own Castle, but I certainly OWE the creators a debt of gratitude. The friends I found through fanfic have saved me, over and over. _**

**_A/N: Crack fic for those that love these characters as much as they HATE Valentine's Day. The challenge? Dare to write something fun enough to whisk away angst in 50 minutes or less. You game?_**

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47 Synonyms for Love

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"Castle, are you bored?" Beckett demanded when she found him staring at the ceiling, his mouth agape, as if he'd acquired a 'flip-top' head.

"No, I'm stuck on 'adulation.'"

"Come again?"

He straightened his posture and picked up the yellow legal pad he'd been notating. "It's Valentine's Day and the boys threw down a little challenge for me. I have to come up with 50 synonyms for the word 'love' in 50 minutes and use each in a sentence that expresses something that only they would recognize."

Rick addressed the growing disbelief gathering between her eyebrows. "I know there's a case. This is just a lunchtime exercise to remove my creative blocks. Like yoga for writers. You'll see, once I crush this, I'll have your killer fingered by noon."

Kate couldn't resist. "Okay, yogi, I'll be over here in the real world where we use evidence for _handy_ things like 'fingering' suspects. But you let me know when you are through with your little exercise, and we can get back to work."

Deep in self-important thought, Rick vented. "The beginning was easy…

'Affection - She wasn't drinking her coffee so much as the rich taste of affection, patiently roasted over years of warmth between them.' Ya see, that really tackles two synonyms, but I'm not counting the second…"

Beckett scowled.

Ricked glossed. "…anyway, moving on…

'Appreciate - Even if he didn't have an actual date for Cupid's special day, there was one detective who could appreciate the curves of a car as much as the imaginary women who might one day be riding along.'"

Kate smirked.

"'Devotion - Men have always showed devotion to their wives through self-sacrifice, but none so valiantly as when he bravely wore _in public_ her ties.'"

Kate's brows fell. "Too easy."

"Emotion - He'd never met anyone so adept at holding tenderly the painful emotions of others, while so completely shunning her own.'"

Rick moved on before allowing her time to respond.

"Fondness - There was a fondness in the morgue, a lightness in his soured brow, whenever a certain examiner looked up from his work, to find his favorite author hanging on his every gruesome word."

"That's cheating," Kate accused.

"They didn't outlaw sarcasm, or lying, just proper nouns."

"So, what's next?"

Smugly satisfied that Kate was hooked, Rick continued haughtily, "'Friendship - The best partnerships are built on a solid friendship, especially when one partner's skills far exceeds that of their counterpart."

"It's awfully big of you to admit that after all these years."

Castle lit up under devilish eyebrows. "Who do you think will take that bait first?"

"I'll put $20 on Espo."

"You're on." Rick extended his hand to shake. "Next is infatuation…

'Infatuation - A red fox walked down the hallway, out of her morgue, leaving a trail of infatuation in her wake.'"

"I dare you to read that to Lanie."

"Not for all the cool gadgets in Sky Mall, may it rest in peace." After crossing himself piously, Castle scanned over his shoulder to make sure Parrish hadn't heard already. "Moving on…

'Passion - Even swing sets feel passion when so moved.'"

"Castle, you can't read that to the boys…!"

"They'll think it's about a case. We've had at least 3 vics on playgrounds."

"I veto. Do that one over."

Rick's chin pouted upwards into his lips. "But it was so brief and poetical."

"Poetical? You _do_ need writer yoga." Kate reached the back of her palm for his forehead. "You feeling okay?"

"Respect - There was no sir worthy of the respect she demanded of them.'"

"That's a gimme."

"Yearning - Each season with the force was an edifice to patience; each new novel a monument to yearning."

She ignored the blatant self-revelation. "That's two sentences."

"I know," Rick admitted. "I think that's why I'm stuck on 'adulation,' now."

Beckett soothed. "That's easy. 'Adulation - Most days, 4 inches under her heel wasn't enough to wade through the river of his adulation."

"Perfect. Only 39 more to go…"

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**I heart my fellow Rick-Kate-Kev-and-Javi lovers. PM if you've got a Syn to confess.**

**Peace, WOML**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Thanks for playing and following. You knew I was always gonna bring my boys into the spotlight too, right? **

**19 days before Kev and Javi threw down Rick's writing challenge, they were struggling with a challenge of their own. A little background to raise the stakes of the bet, before we add more fun sentences. All in good crackfic fun...**

~o~

"This is stupid, bro." Espo had had enough of the antsy feeling in his pants.

"You're telling me." Ryan wasn't pleased with having to put up with his partner's 'agitation' either.

"I'm not giving in just because Castle thinks I can't walk away." Javier stared at the woman in the box, legs crossed inside a short red dress. Fixing her hair into something wilder than the barrette she wore would allow, she unclasped the full length of her mane and shook out the kinks of her confinement.

Ryan stitched his brow, attempting to clarify without calling attention to his best friend's loose grammatical grasp. "Wait, does that mean that you ARE gonna go talk to her, or that you're NOT gonna go talk to her?"

"Yes." Javi stared harder at the object of his desire, barely able to make sense to himself, let alone Kevin.

Quite accustomed to interpreting the non-verbal cues, Kev continued as if it all made sense. "So, this has nothing to do with Rhonda."

Javier spun toward his partner defensively, "No way. How could you even think that? I'm not celebrant."

"I think you mean celibate."

"Right. Celibate." Javier punched his arms downward to straighten his sleeves. "I been trashing Castle's challenge of abstinuts."

Kev corrected, "Abstinence."

"Right. That." The lust behind Espo's eyes revved like red Camaro's on hot summer asphalt, threatening to plow through Kevin, the wall, and maybe the woman on the other side of the glass, before the detective could grab hold of himself.

"Ya know, Jav, Castle never expected you to make it 21 days. You really don't need to make it to 40. February 14th is a long way off."

"Bullshit. I made it this far. I'm not backing out now. I'm more than half way there!" Javier turned back to resume pining for the female through the window.

"You're halfway _somewhere_." Ryan mentioned quietly, with an awkward glance down to Espo's pant seams beginning to stretch.

Javi looked down. "Dammit, Castle!" He grabbed his jacket from the table, draping it over his arm to cover the problem, and stormed to the men's room for the third time in as many days.

Rick caught the door still swinging from Espo's abrupt exit and entered the observation room, a question marking his brow. "Hey Ryan, what's up with Espo?"

"Up? Same thing that's been 'up' for the past 3 weeks."

Castle nodded his head in sympathetic recognition. "Ah, still on that challenge, huh?"

"It would appear so." Ryan motioned to the red dress wrapping the red hot woman as explanation.

"He knows I didn't literally mean 'no sex,' right?"

Ryan sighed, "I've tried to explain it, but he's determined to make it to Valentine's Day."

Aghast, Rick spurted, "Dear God, that's not natural. I mean, especially for Espo." He let the implications filter through his extrapolating mind. "What if he hurts himself? What if he hurts the poor woman on Valentine's night? What if he hurts…" Rick cupped his hand to his mouth in worry.

Ryan supplied, "You?"

Rick nodded.

"It's a distinct possibility." Kevin answered truthfully. "He's been a paragon of self-control, but everyone has their limits. And he definitely blames you."

Rick turned to reassess the steaming hotness of the woman in the window before whispering to himself, "Pride goeth before a fall." He turned back to the detective. "Ryan, you gotta help me get Espo laid."

Kevin backed up. "Uh uh. No way. That sounds like a terrible idea. I like my teethe where they are thank you very much. I'm all for ending this cruelty, but if Javi doesn't deck me for taking sides, the woman in question is sure to take a swing or two."

Rick checked to make sure they were talking about the same woman. "Her? 5'5"? 125 pounds of comely curvaceousness? You are worried she'll take you down?"

"Not the first week." Ryan defended his reasoning with absolute surety. "Or the second. It'll be the third, when Javi stops calling cause he can't think of what to say. She'll come storming in here and slap me when she can't find him."

"This has happened before, I take it."

"More times than I care to count." Ryan rubbed his jaw where the latest unlucky girl had left a bruise.

Castle straightened his spine to stand up to the challenge. "Then I guess it's up to me."

Beckett surprised them both, having slipped in without their notice. "_What__'__s_ up to you, Castle?"

"Getting Espo laid."

Kate continued reading her report feigning utter unshockability. "Can't fight your feelings anymore after all these years?"

Rick sing-songed his defense, "Not meeeeee. Her."

Beckett raised her eyebrows, threatening a massive eye roll, if he didn't rephrase.

"Or somebody like her. There's a lot of lonely women in this city. Somebody MUST want a date with Detective Esposito before Valentine's Day, _right_?"

A look of fascination crossed Kate Beckett's face. "Castle, this may be the single worst idea you've ever had."

Captain Victoria Gates entered the observation room just in time to hear Beckett's last sentence. She peered over her glasses, eyeing Rick. "**Mr. Castle****'****s** worst idea? Worse than Kojak-ing my precinct?" She turned to Detective Beckett. "I don't wanna know, **do I**?"

Kate, Kevin and Rick replied emphatically in unison. "No, Sir!"

~o~

**Try to have a happy V-Day. Or at least survive. More Synonyms on their way…**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N This bit comes from OnkelJo, posted with permission. Caskett continues brainstorming synonyms…**

~o~

"You can go with the classics," Kate told him.

He glanced at her for a moment before resuming to chew on his pen again. Or rather, her pen. Not that she could actually bring up the energy to claim it back.

"What do you mean, Beckett?" he asked around the pen in his mouth.

The detective shrugged a little. "There's only so much the English language can offer - if I know my boys, they didn't bother to exclude loanwords, did they?" she asked him with a mischievous smirk, which he returned and shook his head in answer. "In ancient Greek, there were three kinds of love. Agape, unconditional love, Philia, brotherly love, and Storge, familial love," she told him- nonchalantly keeping quiet about the fourth kind of love, Eros. No need to give him any wrong ideas.

"While I'm dying to see Espo and Ryan's faces when they hear those, I have a far more important question: You know Greek?" Castle inquired with a quirked eyebrow.

"Only a little bit - the important parts," she quipped, which in turn made his eyes sparkle with that all too familiar glimmer, before his face settled on a smile that felt like the last embers of a warming fireplace, dimmed down but still radiating a mellow warmth. She didn't like that she liked basking in it, even if only for a moment.

"Agape - No matter what life threw at them, dirty bombs or freezers, their agape kept them alive through all of it so they could return to each other eventually."

While she didn't particularly agree with the last part being read to the boys, all irritation was dwarfed by a thought that shot through her head after a moment. 'If you put it like that, I've 'loved' him for quite some time,' Kate realized with a breathy laugh that wasn't quite suppressed. "Seconded," she muttered lowly, just loud enough to reach his ears.

Castle broke the silence that filled her desk after a few moments, he, too, barely louder than a whisper. "Philia - A philia forged under fire, deeper than any bond between biological brothers, united in teasing and taking punches for each other."

"deeper than any _**storge**_ between biological brothers," Beckett offered.

"Oooo…Double word score, Detective."

"Only double? I must be slipping."

"Ah, that's another synonym! 'Weakness - A woman who plays Scrabble is my weakness.'"

Beckett smiled with a guilty glance to the clasp at the center of her bra line. Inconspicuously, she contemplated the tiny piece of plastic holding her together over her heart, whispering to herself, "'Rapture - When she could finally silence his incessant talking, they'd unlock the rapture."

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing…" She turned away so he couldn't read her lips "_…__yet._"

~o~

**Last 7 lines are mine to complete the thought. Well done, OnkelJo!**

**Thanks for reviews and follows. Keep smiling folks - we can survive this day, together!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews and PMs. WOML is back in this chapter with the plot unfolding.**

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"'Enchantment - No enchantment could make right the wrongs hidden inside the smuggled purse, but video captured the evil's source.'"

"You feeling alright, Ry?"

Kevin straightened at his desk without tearing his eyes off his notepad. "I heard Castle gloating to Beckett about our little Valentine's challenge. I don't think we gave him something hard enough."

Detective Esposito stared into the distance and considered the terms of the wager stacked against the skills. "Well, he is a professional, but the deadline is tight. The question is why's he wasting time talking to Beckett? Do you think he's cheating? Getting her to ghost write for him?"

"Maybe. They were definitely talking about love…and yoga, for some reason." Kevin thought it over. "If Castle comes in here with a list of 50 before the hour is out, we'll be sunk. Unless…" Kevin paused in contemplation.

"What chu thinking, bro?"

"Unless we make our own list."

Espo didn't relish the idea of wrestling syntax, but a challenging competition was usually its own reward. "Show him up at his own game?"

"That'd take the shine off his victory, couple of flat feet can do the same? Might take him down a notch. I mean, there's no plot or character development, we are just talking simple sentences. I bet even _I_ could do it."

Espo corrected, "You mean _we_ could do it."

Ryan smirked at his partner. If Espo was willing to go so far out of his comfort zone, this might be worth a try. Even if they couldn't match the advanced degrees powering a Team Caskett list, Kevin wouldn't mind flexing his AP English skills to make up for Espo's uniform domination on the sparring mat this week. "Sure, could be fun!"

Detective Esposito whipped around his chair to straddle the seat facing backwards. Brainstorming sessions required a different point of view, a change in stance. His dark eyes focused intently, zeroing out the rest of the world's distractions. Even way out of his league, he'd go all in and try to support his team with 110%. "What do we do first?"

"I've already made a list of synonyms we could tackle." Kevin pointed to his steno pad. "What we need now are the references that only someone on our team would recognize."

"Alright, let's see…Fidelity, Flame, Hankering." Espo read the words and pointed at the notes. "Those are easy, all cases."

Kevin's eyes lit up, maybe Espo wasn't so far out of his league after all.

"Fidelity - Sam Parker wasn't cheating on his wife. He changed his name to Jake to uncover dumping fraud. He died for fidelity. Even though his wife and kids might remember him forever as a worthless cheater, he was faithful to everything he stood for, including his wife and kids. He had the power to protect clean water for everyone. He took the risk that would hurt his reputation and his family, but gave all of us the gift." Espo lifted his water bottle off the desk and pointed to the clear liquid that kept him in such good health and glowing skin. "Without this, my mind wouldn't be clear enough to help rectify that."

"Right. We couldn't have cleared his name without clear, clean water." Ryan got the far away look of distillation as he tried to arrange Espo's sentiments into something concise. "Very circle of life…"

Espo barreled on, "Flame - Has gotta be the easiest…" He touched his forehead where the scar had mostly healed.

Ryan added, "A tiny baby burst into our lives carrying the flame of new life, of hope, of something worth surviving for."

Esposito held out his fist. "You know it partner."

Kevin dropped his fist on top of his best friend's feeling grateful that his legs worked at all, that he could even stand up on that sparring mat with Esposito, that he wasn't in a wheelchair, or worse. "Thanks for helping me walk outta there, man."

Eager to move on before the mist gathered in his eyes, Espo started, "Hankering - now, I can't imagine how to use that in a sentence, but I'm thinking that means like desire, like something so good you wanna eat it, maybe like your ex and the drinking blood thing." His eyebrows popped naughtily.

"You're fixated on her! If you like her so much, I can give you her number."

"No way. Dude, if I wanted a vampy girlfriend, I would go out and get my own. I don't need your leftovers."

"Uh huh." Ryan scribbled some notes about sanguine sirens hankering to see the light of truth without letting it burn their skin.

Beckett swirled past them, having picked up clues about the return of Ryan's line in the sand about 'not sleeping in coffins.' "Whatcha doin' boys?"

Espo fired back with heady bravado at having made 3 connections in less than 3 minutes. "Dominating this challenge, you and Castle don't stand a chance, even IF you cheat!"

"You mean the Valentine's challenge?" Beckett was shocked that Javier was still feeling cocky about his chances. Maybe he hadn't seen the woman in the red dress sauntering into the bullpen.

Ryan rapped his knuckles on his partner's chest, "Uh, Javi, I think someone is here to see you…"

Javier's jaw dropped as she walked toward him. Words, synonyms, antonyms all drained out his ears and dripped down his legs.

Her eyes were on fire with bright focus on Javi. He wanted badly to answer back her call with a matching response. He wanted badly to feel that same flame, to extinguish all the dark and danger he faced on a daily basis. He knew he could do that inside her arms, between her legs, within her walls. Her eyes had the same look of desire, but her body was very different from his - in all the right ways. Homonyms. All he wanted was to make them a pair of homonyms.

~o~

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**PM me if you are inspired with your own Syns or Synonyms that include Castle references...guest appearances coming up.**

**RL is rough sometimes - thanks for keeping it fun with me.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: The tantalizing bits on the Post-it notes come compliments of Retired1984. Good fun! Thanks for playing.**_

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Lanie found Javi hiding out in Evidence. He paced the cage walking back and forth to the end of the row before returning to the table covered in Post-it notes.

When the medical examiner noticed his distracted state, she glanced down at the notes for a clue, reading, "'Rendezvous - Rick, 5 minutes; rendezvous in the storage closet'...?"

He turned back toward the darkened, barred windows for another lap, beyond distraction.

She read off another yellow post-it. "'Itch - I have an itch I need you to help scratch.'"

Javier's head dipped sideways in acknowledgment that he was still missing something. He searched his disheveled mind, like a tossed apartment, overturned with lascivious thoughts. How could he work a 12th precinct reference into that one? He looked up at the towers of boxed files. Did any of the murder weapons make someone on his team **_itch_**?

Parrish's voice rose to a lofty level of disbelief as she read, "'Soft spot - my soft spot for you is not so soft anymore'…?"

Espo huffed in frustration. This challenge was no fun without Ryan. How come he couldn't produce the same results on his own? He'd been brilliant just a few minutes ago. All Kev had to do was watch. Now, alone, he couldn't complete his thoughts. His momentary ego inflation deflated as he considered that Ryan's influence might have been the connection that made it all possible.

Lanie picked up a hot pink sticky. "'Solicitude - It is with great solicitude I invite you to my boudoir tonight.'…?" Javier! What in the world are you doing in here?"

"Hiding. I mean, writing. Sort of…"

She read a bright green note. "'Hankering - If you're hankering for more than a little fun, you will need a bigger 'rope' than that one, cowboy.'"

Espo finally broke his stormy mood with a sunny smile. "That one works."

Ryan tap danced down the steps, and glided into the room behind Parrish. "How we doing in here, boss?" He picked up a fluorescent orange square of paper and read aloud, "'Treasure - I certainly treasure your 'treasure' chest Kate.'" Kev smirked "…Good one."

Parrish raised her eyebrows higher than one would think possible.

Espo and Ryan explained in unison, "The dude ranch!" As if that explained everything.

Ry pressed, "How many is that?"

"25, I think."

"Nah. We used 'Hankering' twice. That knocks us down to 24."

Lanie cut in, "I don't want to know; do I?"

Ryan answered, "Probably not."

Espo didn't have the DNA to quit. "We can't be stuck already. How many did Castle get?"

"Can't tell but I swiped this note from the break room next to the Espresso machine. Looks like he's making notes too…"

Parrish intercepted it. "Lemme, see that. Maybe it'll make sense when the _real_ author writes it. 'Amorous - She looked at him, smiled at him as bright as a supernova, and he was forever launched on his amorous path.'"

Espo took issue with Lanie's tone, but was ever so happy to have an excuse to flash his dazzling smile at a beautiful woman who WASN'T the one stalking his fantasies upstairs. "That clear it up for ya?"

"I guess we'll give him that one." Ryan added contemplatively. "Since he had the gall to wear his space cowboy costume to a crime scene."

"Alright, what are you clowns up to now?" She splashed her dish of sassy sauce at them with a hand on her hip. "Don't you have a case to be working on?"

"Sure thing." Ryan waved the thick manilla folder in his hands. "But we also have a bet to win."

Espo corrected, "TWO bets to win."

"Does Beckett know you're wasting time on this?" Lanie reared protectively.

Javi copped an attitude. "_**She**__**'**__**s**_ helping Castle win! Traitor."

"Totally cheating." Ryan agreed.

"So, what's the bet?"

"50 Synonyms for Love in 50 minutes." Espo pushed his index finger between him and his partner. "With a reference someone only on our team would know."

Ryan explained with crinkled brow. "But time is not on our side."

Parrish motioned to the sticky notes and eyed Javier's distracted state. "That's not the only thing working against you. You're up against a best selling author. How do you expect to compete with that?"

"Get by with a little help from our friends?" Ryan baited Parrish with innocent questioning eyes.

"Oh, no, don't drag me into your world of crazy." She set her teeth. "'Madness - She saw straight through their madness to the cause of death: procrastination.'"

Kevin took the victory. "Good one. That's 26. More than halfway there."

"Heyyy, thanks." Javi charmed.

Lanie turned to leave before she got snagged on the smell of her ex's aftershave. No need to spend Valentine's pining for what might have been. "Anytime. Let me know if you need more to reach the plateau of platitudes."

"Can I sign you up for 5? Tory said she'd take 10." Ryan penciled his notepad with potluck assignments.

Parrish rolled her eyes. "Sure. If you get Gates in on it, I'll throw in an extra bittersweet heart wrapped in red foil." Parrish's desk was littered with heart-day candy, making work impossible until she pawned it off. "I've got one more than I know what to do with."

"That leaves only 10 more for us, Javi."

Espo continued flirting with Lanie, while showing Kevin smooth confidence. "We got this."

The ME turned to leave, leaving the boys to do _whatever_ it was they did together everyday. Lanie stopped at the door before stepping out, dogged by curiosity. "What's the second bet?"

Javier took the lead, crossing the room with slow swagger. He stopped to whisper in her ear, delivering his line with an auditory sizzle that had all the precision of bacon grease spurting. "To melt your bittersweet heart tonight. Foil and all."

"That sounds messy."

Javi nodded. Slow and naughty. Bit his bottom lip. Waiting. Almost. Over. Only 12 more hours to showtime.

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~o~

**Thanks Retired1984 for 'plateau of platitudes' and other fun here. **

**Yikes, this is getting hairy! Who else has got some Syns to confess? Help me out here. Time to move on... St. Patty's Day approaches ;-) **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This bit o fun comes to you from the most _'high'_ GM, Grammar Master, the 'induplicable' GeekMom. hee hee ;-) **

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~o~

Lanie leaned against the back wall of the elevator after she depressed the basement button. She smiled to herself and sighed. All the talk about love and love words and some of those post-it notes, she exhaled again, while seemingly innocuous, some were written by Castle: the more poetic ones. Ryan's were flirty but Javi's were down right dirty.

She smiled; they had no chance against Castle. Lanie had been a fan of his sex scenes for years.

Their little contest got her thinking though, it was Valentine's, and she was once again single. She hated the stupid card holiday unless she had a significant other, then she wanted the chocolate, the flowers, the jewelry. Lanie wanted the romance.

The doors opened on the basement vestibule; records to the right, autopsy to the left. The M.E.'s offices were lined up along the corridor opposite the examination theaters. She absently pulled at her turtleneck's collar she wore under her scrubs. It was cold outside, bitterly cold, so another doctor had cranked up the heat. She knew who it was: Perlmutter. It only gave credence to the rumor that he was in fact reptilian: cold-blooded and solitary, seeking warmth from rocks. She pursed her lips and chastised herself. Perlmutter had positive traits, too.

He just had never shared them with anybody.

She sighed again as she sat in her chair. She moved her mouse to wake her computer. She'd try to come up with five sentences for the boys. They were right about one thing: they needed all the help they could get. She's seen Richard Castle writing and unlike his frenetic theory spewing, crime solving dance through the bull pen, he was a totally focused machine. She idly wondered if he exhibited the same concentration in other pursuits as well.

Maybe she should feel guilty about what she was picturing, but since she was single, she decided to live vicariously through her friends and for romantic, sexy fun; she lived through Kate. Lanie licked her lips and reluctantly left her daydream.

She opened a new document and paused to think. 'Tenderness,' she typed. 'The detective ogled the woman with all the tenderness of a rug burn.'

She skipped a line and typed 'Crush – As they danced to the disco music, she observed him developing a new crush.'

Lanie sighed again, long and deep. She had to find a man. She looked up at the calendar. February fourteenth mocked her, but the fireman who graced the page had anything but mocking on his mind. Whoa, that boy was sexy. 'The fireman made her feel the burn and heat with his incendiary gaze and the way he handled his hose.'

She naturally thought of setting Kate up with Mr. July. That was a mistake. She raised an eyebrow and giggled evilly as she typed the next sentence. 'She watched her best friend ignore his amorous advances for years until she miraculously pulled her head out of her'…

"Damn it."

The damn computer died. She frowned she'd been having problems and her smart pad, at her request, had been disabled. "Damn," she cursed again as she reached for the phone.

She dialed support for the third time in as many days and pressed the corresponding buttons she now knew by heart as requested until she was asked to leave a message. Lanie's patience had evaporated along with any discernable moisture in the oven that the morgue had become. "Dr. Lanie Parrish, Medical Examiner. This is my third request and somebody better get their ass down here to fix my damn computer before they end up on my table as the main theme for my next paper on how to get away with murder!" She slammed the receiver back into its cradle. "Damn."

She was still fuming when there was a tentative knock on the door.

"What?" She spun her chair to see who would dare enter.

Tory Ellis stood at her door, looking like a trauma victim.

Lanie stood and apologized. "I'm sorry, it's the heat."

"I've noticed. It's really hot down here. It's not so bad in records, but…um…I was at the elevator and overheard your, um, message." The younger woman looked embarrassed. "I can probably fix that, if you'd like."

Lanie immediately crossed to her door, wrapped her arm around Tory's shoulders, and guided her to her desk. The tech raised her eyebrow.

"Oh, honey, if you fix this, you just became my best friend," Lanie purred. Tory's lip quirked up.

She sat at the desk, checked connections; hit a combination of keys and her desktop glowed to life. She pulled up several different pages of gibberish, typed, and then closed the windows. "Should be good to go."

She hit one more key and Lanie's document reappeared on the screen. Tory tried as hard as she could to hide her reaction, but she had a very readable face. She smirked as she read Dr. Parrish's "work".

"Oh, that…that's just some nonsense I got pulled into by the residents of the nursery up in homicide."

"Me too. Javi was very convincing."

A spike of jealousy irrationally spiked in Lanie's chest. She grimaced and then remembered they were just friends. "I heard. I only have to do five."

"Five? They begged me to take ten. I told them not to hold their breath."

Tory sat down in the chair next to Lanie's desk. "Although, they can get pretty cute when they want something. Too bad Ryan is married."

Lanie's eyebrows shot up. "You've got a crush on Ryan?"

"Why not? He's adorable. Blue eyes, wavy hair, crooked smile," she sighed heavily.

"So Ryan's hot." Lanie said, barely smiling.

"Like this office," Tory threw back. "Esposito is too, but…" Tory stopped herself. Everyone knew of Lanie's relationship history with the detective.

"But what?" Lanie asked.

"Well, there's just too much of the macho crap for my tastes."

"Oh honey, the macho crap is so worth putting up with for the other… matter of fact, it adds certain elements."

"So…hot?"

"Definitely hot."

They women continued their assessment of the twelfth's various squads and their detectives, uniforms even the night janitor who could have doubled for the guy who played that space cowboy many years ago was categorized as hot or not. He was hot.

Lanie wiped her eyes again; she and Tory had regressed to seventh grade girls giggling at a slumber party. Tory was a riot. 'It was always the quiet ones,' she thought. "Okay, okay…Perlmutter."

Tory became quiet. "Oh god, you mean, Dr. Perlmutter? Your colleague?"

"That's the one."

There was a muffled whimper from the hallway. Tory frowned, but dismissed the noise. The women leaned closer together.

Tory's lip quirked, a sure sign of amusement. "Difficult to place, let's see, he keeps to himself, doesn't really like people, well living people, kind of pale…mm…I'm going to have to say…hot."

Lanie sputtered the sip of soda she'd just sucked through her straw.

"Really? I don't see it, for all the reasons you just listed. Why on Earth?"

Tory leaned forward. "Can you keep a secret?" she asked in hushed tones.

Lanie nodded.

"Okay," Tory continued, "I have a thing for vampires."

Lanie burst out laughing.

Tory giggled. "Seriously, he reminds me of a vampire."

"Okay, okay I can see that. It's freaky and weird, but stranger things have happened. I mean look at Castle and Beckett. After everyone wrote them off, then they, after I lost all kinds of money mind you, then they finally get it together." Lanie shook her head.

Tory bit her lip. "Yeah, but now you can hardly get them apart. I'm sure they have sex in the supply closet."

Lanie reached across her desk and smacked Tory's arm. "You did not just say that."

"Oh!"

"What?"

"No, never mind."

"Nuh uh, girl, who did you think of?"

Tory bit her lip. "Beckett," she whispered. There was a noise in the hallway, it sounded like a clipboard had been dropped, but neither woman paid it attention amidst their laughing and hooting.

"Oh my god!" Lanie declared. "You are bad, girl."

"So?" Tory encouraged.

'Mm," Lanie hummed. She'd never thought about Beckett in any way but a friend. But she was beautiful and sexy. "I think…Richard Castle is one lucky man." She smiled. "Definitely hot. Okay, my turn," Lanie raised an eyebrow. "This shouldn't be too hard." She paused dramatically. "You ready?"

"Yessss! Hit me," Tory challenged.

"Okay, Richard Castle." Lanie looked extraordinarily pleased with herself.

Tory thought about it. "Let's look at his assets, shall we? He's got great hair."

"Yeah, and his smile can melt."

"I don't know about his body, except…"

"Except what?"

"He's got a great ass."

"Whoo, yeah and his body is great. I've seen him at the gym. He's not all hard body; pump you up body builder, but…"

"Just the right amount of definition."

"Yeah…the man has some nicely developed arms, stronger than his suits cover up…and Kate said…no; I shouldn't."

"Oh my god, Lanie. You can't leave me there," Tory sat at the edge of her seat. "Kate said what?"

Lanie leaned forward conspiratorially. "Well, when they first started…dating," she exhaled. "She had a little too much to drink one night and described the man's…gifts."

"Lanie!" Tory practically screamed. "I think it's too hot down here to continue. Want to get a drink after work?"

"That would be good," Lanie said after sucking down the rest of her drink.

"Great," Tory said as she stood. "See ya then."

She walked across the office and pulled open the door only to have a body stumble in the room and into her. Hands grasped for purchase and when balance had been achieved, Perlmutter stood with his hands planted firmly on Tory's chest.

"Um," the tech said and cleared her throat.

"I…uh…I'm sorry," Perlmutter said, a crimson hue slowly creeping up his neck, painting his face in guilt.

Lanie watched the blood fill her colleague's features and sardonically thought, 'huh, not a vampire.' She yelled, "Perlmutter, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm…oh okay, I was listening…so sue me," he spat. He gathered the minuscule amount of dignity he had left and turned to leave astonished and annoyed women as fast as possible. Pausing at the door he turned back to face them, gripped his clipboard as if it were a life line, stood straight and tall and said, "Hot…Richard Castle is hot."

* * *

~o~

_**LMAO. And GM is allegedly the mature one between the two of us- Pwah! Give her the props in your review!**_

_**Almost home, time to send me your submission so we can conclude this farce. Love now. Love urgently. Love calls you to respond - For Love is but a season, and then it's gone... **_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Short bit to get us closer. May it jiggle a little smile from our overly-serious-adult lives ;-) **

* * *

~o~

Castle glided into the bullpen, spun Kate Beckett around with her hand overhead, and bowed with all the grace of Fred Astair swirling Ginger Rogers, but none of the sparkling humility. "Ohhh boys…," he sang. "Time I show you just how unchallenging your little challenge proved. Come out and take your medicine. Hey, where are they…?"

Even though her eyes glinted in the turn, Kate recovered from her abduction into pas de deux by resolving her facial expression into a much more respectable look of mild annoyance at Castle's lack of decorum in the bullpen.

"Right here, writer-boy!" Espo walked with the same purpose and swagger that he displayed while on patrol in the desert: eyes keen for trouble, but a tad bored, and definitely not in the mood for terrorist jokes with an AK-47 hung between his legs.

He didn't need the gun anymore - the walk came naturally.

Lanie, Tory and LT poured out of the elevator, each with a sideways smirk that indicated an enviable elevator chat. Rick wondered what kind of juicy mischief they'd been using to pass time as they rose through the floors.

The elevator trio stood in front of Ryan's desk, facing Kate's. Lanie tucked one arm into the other, like she was tying a ballet sweater around her torso to frame her proud chest as she waited for the rest of the team to assemble.

Perlmutter came up the stairwell, sat on a desk at the far corner of the bullpen, hugged his arms effeminately around his upper torso and looked disapprovingly over his glasses at the writer.

Castle crossed to look for Ryan in the break room, but bristled as he passed uneasily under the hungry gaze of the man from the morgue. When his search came up empty, he asked, "So, Espo, where's your better half?" The writer's confidence dipped and climbed again, once he cleared Perlmutter's intimidating stare. "I've got a list here to make Venus melt into the arms of Mars."

Ryan, with Captain Gates on his arm, answered from behind the writer. "I thought Venus was married to Vulcan. Isn't it bad luck to break up a happy marriage, Castle?"

Rick's polymathy unfurled. "Who says they were happy? Vulcan had more than one wife; and I think fidelity was more of a symbolic gesture among the Romans. Poets for centuries taut the inevitability of these fated lovers. For instance, 'Worship- When Mars, the God of War, came to worship at the Temple of Venus, his bloody sins were forgiven because, in her, he could always find peace.'"

Beckett stared incredulous that he started his list with 'Always.' Hadn't she been clear that some things were too personal to share?

Rick recoiled slightly, unaware of his offense. "What? Venus was _always_ going to fall into the arms of Mars when they finally crossed paths in the heavens. It's a justice in a way. Don't you think?"

Gates took it upon herself. "Mr. Castle, justice and jurisprudence have very little to do with committed love. Shall I show him?" Ryan deferred with an exaggerated bow, like a prince (in iridescent teal) deferring to his queen.

Iron Gates cleared her throat, put her glasses on, and stared down at her notes. "Zeal - Though predictably irrational, we couldn't have pulled off a birthday bash for our favorite invalid without reliance on his childish curiosity, his overactive imagination, and his protective zeal."

Rick took Victoria in his arms and _almost_ gave her a second smooch. "I knew I was your favorite!"

Instead of resisting, Captain Gates read another reference of her own design, whispering into Castle's ear to great affect, over-enunciating each syllable seductively. "Case - To canvass, to examine, to inspect. She cased his every detail, his every tantalizing, bulging curve until…tick, tick, tick…" Noting that she'd disarmed the writer with an out-of-character lure, she barked sharply, "BOOM!"

Rick dropped the Captain from his arms, leaped back into a decorous stance, smoothing his hair nervously, and 'cased' his own notes. "Uh, uh, that's a good one. Very effective, uh, sir."

Espo fist-bumped Ryan. "Nice job, bro, bringing Gates to the party. Stealth."

Ry stood arms crossed, relishing the compliment until his partner used terminology that pre-dated even his oldest clip-on tie. "Stealth? Dude, no one says that anymore."

"What?" Espo played it off. "It's a Special Ops thing." When Caskett appeared unconvinced, he spread his palms. "What? I swear."

LT cut in with an eyebrow raise to Javi. "Ahem, 'Cherish - What _fool_ wouldn't cherish the cherry-scented lips of one goddess in the bedroom?'"

Tory tag-teamed, "What _fool _wouldn't enjoy reviewing hours and hours of video footage for a glimpse of an author by a dumpster?"

Lanie put her hands on her hips and laser blasted Castle with her most lethal fem-bot death stare. "What _fool _would run off in lunacy to Canada without telling his _**fi-an-ce**_?"

Rick held up his hands like a runt shielding himself from the grade school bully twice his size, pleading, in a high-pitched squeal, "What fool can't see their partiality, when it comes taking their best friend's part?"

Ryan ran to Castle's aid, breaking up the showdown before Lanie exacted her vengeance, if only because he wanted to hear Rick grovel at the end of their wager. "Alright, back to your corners. Where does that leave us?"

Espo fired off. "35 by my count. _**We**__**'**__**re**_ winning."

Kevin turned to Rick. "Care to show us how you earn those over-stuffed paychecks?"

Castle gloated as he threw his arm straight and retrieved his palmed notes dramatically to a readable distance. "Indeed. Devoted - Half in shadow, the P.I. swerved right, faked left, shaking off rounds of bullets, shot by dames looking to get lucky, letting none near his regard, until a lone, but not lonely, marks-woman mowed him down." He tapped his sternum 3 times. "Straight. Through. The Heart."

LT clapped fervishly. Team Ry-Spo-Par-Lis along with Vamp-man and Queen Victoria, pursed their lips appraisingly. LT's clapping slowed to a stop under peer pressure.

Esposito approached the writer's 10 foot ego with a scaffold of suave. "Alright, man, not bad. Let's see what else we got for ya." He smiled warmly before calling for heavy artillery, without breaking his upward gaze into Castle's eyes. "Perlmutter! What chu got?"

The Medical Examiner, from his perch in the dark corner, intoned, "At long last, my heart finally fumed with fondess at the sight of the author, not at his usual haunt, the crime scene, nor at a zombie dance, nor at a space-age geek fair, but where his babble could be given a proper audience…at the ossuary."

Castle deadpanned his sincerity. "I love you, too, Sidney."

* * *

**~o~ **

**Only half a scene today- the other half tomorrow (?) **

**Smile, even when you think you are unloveable. Remember, Andrew loves us, every one (appropriately through Castle of course) ;-) **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey folks, problems with connection have slowed me way down, but here we are with a multi-part ending to this game. My apologies for taking liberties with Castle's ego. I know the game of Love can seem a bit harsh on the players. Even though this is labeled crackfic, some things are better felt than spoken. Alas, I do the best I can, with what I understand at the time - And hope that my good traits, my positivity, and my friends can bail me out when I fall down. **

**My gratitude to FuelDH who contributed the line about Savoring. And Geekmom, who wrote the entire last memory, which I suspect the Casketteers will enjoy very much ;-)**

**So, shall we see how this one ends?**

* * *

**~o~**

As the others huddled around Perlmutter for a moment to compare notes, Beckett and Castle regrouped.

"So, is Perlmutter your new Valentine?" Katherine objected in playful jealously, swinging her arms around her lover.

Rick exchanged with her a knowing smile. Their words said one thing, their bodies another. It was their balancing act. They fanned passion by denying it, over and over, until it proved undeniable.

After a long moment of eye-sex that reassured him she still in cahoots, Beckett announced to the room her own thinly veiled assessment. "Commitment - Before meeting his match, his heart drifted from port to port, untethered by purpose save the bachelor's folly, a frenzy framed on page 6, bereft of the bowline: commitment."

The others took note of Beckett's entry for Team Castle, which cleverly reaffirmed her loyalty to Team Twelfth.

Despite the dig, Castle turned pink that she would favor him so generously with a public display of physical affection in front of her co-workers and the Captain! He whispered as delicately as he could into her ear. "I love you, _**still**_."

"Ahhh…" Beckett took him in hand. "But, Lyoo-BEET…" She continued in a overly exaggerated Russian accent to toy with arousal, knowing that it would melt his core strength into a puddle. "Ты бу́дешь меня́ люби́ть, когдá я бу́ду стáрым? Will you still love me when I get old?"

'_Goddam, she__'__s hot as AU Slutty Slavic Kate__… __And so utterly beautiful when she admits her fear, her doubt.__'_ Castle struggled with the urge to kiss her reassuringly, to grab her up and let the torrent of passion pour from his mouth into hers, but they were in public, at work, and Gates was right there! The risks weren't worth the long term costs. His eyelids fell as he devoured his own impulses in order to support his beloved's dream, her job.

Kate melted in his obvious desire for her, as well as his self-control pushed to the razor edge of its limit. Turning to liquid inside her heels, gripping her core muscles to keep her standing, she smiled, and let the wave of wanting crash over her.

Ryan interpreted the interplay in another way. "'Savor - There are so many ways she savors the look of contrition when she one ups him.'" He turned back to the group to review their next play.

It was just what Rick and Kate WANTED everyone to see. Caskett cat and mouse. Appropriate. Expected. Decorous. As the others turned toward Kevin, the pair smiled at each other in secret. Their grins concealed a wealth of pleasure that dared not be uttered, at least not at the precinct.

The secrets of the bedroom held them. No matter what the rest of the world THOUGHT they knew about their tryst, they shared a private universe.

In that place, when they could finally be alone together, beauty, passion and light sparked brightly… against all the darkness and cruelty of mankind.

The dream of that co-created heaven - when they could finally touch and dissolve, momentarily, into each other - was their candle in the darkness. For years, Katherine and Richard nurtured that hope, that possible future. And it saved their lives again, and again, and again. Real or imagined, they both protected that dream during the moments they had to be apart. It proved essential.

His answer was quiet, so the others couldn't hear. "I only have eyes for you…_always_."

Kate wrapped her arms more tightly around his neck. "I hope so, Castle. Cause getting dumped on Valentines is a bit harsh."

Rick brushed a stand of hair from her forehead. "Hope hurts. Truly nothing hurts so badly as wanting something not in one's grasp."

She countered, "But it also heals, as it draws us onward, away from the past and the pain."

Richard summoned the attention of the room with his resonant voice, while still gazing into his lover's eyes. "To Love. A Verb. To Quicken, To Want, To Seek… Almost free, they ran toward their own futures when they quickened toward each other. Almost frozen, they huddled around the warmth of their wanting the other to live on, even more than they desired survival for themselves. Almost eaten, they sought the high ground of selflessness, climbing away from the tiger of fear, dancing atop the ice-box of a cold uncaring world, cuffed at the wrists to a love bigger than both of them."

The women swooned. The men sighed. Castle still had it.

LT told-ja-so'ed Ry-Spo-Par-Lis for tamping his earlier enthusiasms. "See. He got this in the bag."

And so, the game continued…

~o~

The 'ooo's and 'ahhh's of Castle's practiced writing prowess drew a larger and larger crowd. Soon the whole floor and most of Tory's colleagues from Tech were capturing the charismatic 'Castle Show' one witty synonym at a time in 6 second clips destined to trend de-Vinely toward internet fame.

Despite their imminent loss, the boys were enjoying the show too. Watching everyone laugh together was it's own reward - worth way more than one-upping anyone's ego - and payment plenty for the teasing coming their way.

When Rick took a natural pause to review his notes, and let the sentiment sink in to his audience, Ryan broke in with a solemn gratitude in his eyes as he nodded to each person on his team in turn, "Togetherness. Trust. Commitment. Protection. And the greatest of these is Love…"

Espo dropped into running back position to save his partner from a fumble. "Motive. Means. Opportunity. Evidence. We'll solve this case off the Cuff."

High fives echoed around the room. It was a valiant fight they were destined to lose. Castle only had to nail 3 more in order to win.

Gates egged on the author, "Alright, Mr. Castle, let's hear your last 3. No matter what day it is, I have a precinct to run. And murder, unfortunately, doesn't take a day off."

"Ya know, I think I'll leave it at 47. My partners, Detectives Ryan and Esposito, have summed it up perfectly."

Potentially even more proud/in love with her man, Beckett queried, "So Ryan and Espo get the spoils?"

Rick nodded. "My ego doesn't need any more trophies. I'd rather savor a moment like this - with all you excellent people…" His eyes cast around the room to everyone at the twelfth. "…than clutch at material things."

Esposito was too excited to indulge his inner humanitarian. "Then hand over those keys!"

Castle dug out two shiny keychains and dropped one set into Javier's opened palm, the other into Kevin's.

Ryan resolved his surprised expression into gracious transactional decorum. "Thank you, very much, Mr. Castle. Always a pleasure doing business with you." Irish charm dripped onto the precinct floor.

~o~

Both Ryan and Espo walked to the elevator, pulling out their cell phones as they purposefully strode. After punching numbers that would take them down, the brushed silver doors closed on the two detectives.

Kevin's call connected first. "Hey, Jenny, Can you get your sister to watch Sarah tonight? Looks like we can afford a date night after all."

The innocent Irishmen stared up into the Ferrari daydream zooming around the corners of his mind. Beautiful wife. Beautiful car. Beautiful boon of a few hours to have them both to himself. He fully intended to drive them BOTH crazy with liberal use of his 'clutch.'

"Yo, Jav, you know a good place I can pick up some fusion food to-go?"

Javier mimed a nod with the phone still at his ear. His call didn't connect. He hung up and tried again. He was too excited about winning to think clearly.

Voicemail. Oh Shit. What to say?

Even though Detective Esposito had dialed the number with an ultra-clear purpose, he struggled to find the words to say, especially since Kevin was listening. "Uhhh. Hi. This is…well, I think you know who this is. What chu say to a couple a days in the Hamptons? See if I can't work out some of those problems you been having with your hips?…uh…hypnotist. I can be there in 5." He pulled the phone away intending to tap the screen and disconnect, but the impulse overtook him. He whispered behind his cupped hand, without a prayer of being discreet. "And can you wear that red dress, again?"

Ryan said nothing, looked straight ahead, attempted a non-judgmental straight face.

Espo explained, "Hypnotist. Fraud case. She needs my help."

"Right. Of course. Consulting on a case." His poker face waned, as each phrase descended in tone a half step. "In the Hampton's. On the beach. In Castle's sprawling mansion. With Master bedroom that's larger than your entire apartment."

After drifting through the imaginary aforementioned sleeping quarters, Espo dropped his charade with a sudden interest in advice. "Was it too obvious? I shouldn't have mentioned the dress, huh?"

"I think your intentions were…" Kev searched for an honest reply that would hold gently Espo's dignity. "…clear and direct. There's nothing wrong with that."

Detective Esposito stewed in the familiar flavor of foot-in-mouth soup as they descended through the floors in silence. Each tinny bing counted off their descent to what Espo feared might suddenly be Ryan's redhot victory and his own not-so-hot V-day, alone, in a big empty house.

The final bing sounded. The cabin slowed to stop. The doors opened.

"Hello Detectives." The woman in red met Javier's eyes and slid her hands down the sides of her body until they rested on the handles of her hips. "Got your message. Is this what you had in mind?"

"Yep." Javi pat Kev's shoulder in a display of showmanship for the runner up, suddenly super grateful he'd won the Ro-Sham-Bo splitting car and beach house between them but even more grateful that he decided not to censor his impulse, to be himself. "Clear and Direct. That's me."

~o~

When all the holiday hoopla was said and done, Beckett and Castle got back to work. The killers would be caught and brought to justice. The proper procedures would be followed and paperwork filed. The week would proceed as scheduled, but due to their foray into the domain of Love, a warm glow would fill in the dramatic pauses between their words.

On a late afternoon break, they gravitated to the espresso machine. Beckett waited patiently as he prepared their small servings of concentrated awesome. Castle adjusted the wand, depressed the button, steamed the milk.

Both were quietly recalling the events of the morning that _weren__'__t_ related to the case. One memory, in particular, stood out…

Beckett searched the floor for her partner who had not been seen for several minutes. She figured he had disappeared to work on the boys' challenge, but had not found him in interrogation, observation, any of the conference rooms or the break room. She'd sent a disgruntled Esposito into the men's room that he reported empty as well.

Walking down the hallway one moment, grabbed and shoved into the janitor's closet the next, a hand clamped over her mouth in the darkened room, her mind immediately jumped to heinous and despicable scenarios. The tiny pitch black room smelled of musky mop heads and cleaning fluids and another familiar aroma she couldn't quite place.

The muscular arms holding her tight shifted slightly as the man reached above his head to pull the string on the lone bare bulb in the fixture in the middle of the ceiling. Beckett used the looser grip to strain against his hold and twist to see her captor. At that moment he spun her in her arms and took possession of her lips.

She knew the lips, the scent, the embrace and she melted into the naughtiness and need of the moment. Her husband had just kidnapped her in the middle of the workday in the middle of a police precinct and had begun to take her up against the supply closet door. She was more than a little turned on. Oh this man.

He looked deeply into her eyes, which had morphed from their normal happy-go-lucky bright blue to deadly serious midnight: the kind of night that despite the warmth would leave you with an unexpected chill of goose bumps on your arms. Kate drew in a stuttering breath against the cold. Maybe it was the overwhelming smell of pine sol or maybe it was the absolute lust she saw in her husband's body; its movements and obvious and primal male reactions to her, but she felt dizzy with desire.

Castle leaned forward, brushed his lips over hers, and nibbled his way to her pulse point below her left ear. He had placed his leg between hers and slightly lifted her off of the floor, delivering pressure where he knew she'd want it. His hands gripped her rear and planted her solidly against him. Kissing, sucking and licking his way to her ear, he stopped and leaned back to look her in the eye. Seeing that he had achieved his desired reaction, he smiled as he leaned back into her neck, nuzzled her ear, and whispered, "Lust. The detective danced around throughout the day, teasing him: bending over a drawer a minute longer than necessary, twirling a lock of golden brown tresses that sent wafts of cherry scented passion in his direction, swaying her hips a fraction more of a degree in each direction as she sashayed away from him, her tongue playing with the drop of escaping vanilla flavored caffeine as it dripped down the outside of the ceramic before sucking it into her mouth. It was too much too take, his lust for this woman overtook his senses and better judgment and he took her in the closet."

Castle stepped back and pulled Kate away from the door. She was drunk with the lust he had incited. He opened the door and winked as he stepped out into the hall. Smirking he asked, "Language is a powerful thing, huh Beckett?"

_**~o~**_

* * *

_**Thanks, friends and foes, for coming a long with me. I know I'm a juvenile ass at times, part of being authentically human. Like the great Maya Angelou said, "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." And I will, someday (I hope)...In the meanwhile, thanks for joining me in a laugh, a fantasy, and an exercise in word bending. **_

_**Yours truly, WOML**_


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